Remittance system with improved service for unbanked individuals

ABSTRACT

A service provider computer receives a request for a transfer of a remittance amount from a sender&#39;s payment card account to a recipient without an account. The service provider computer transmits a transaction authorization request and a hold on the sender&#39;s payment card account for the remittance amount via a payment card system to the sender&#39;s financial institution (FI), receives transaction request approval, and establishes a transaction data record. The service provider computer then transmits the transaction identification code to the sender, receives a transaction identification code and a transaction data record validity request from a receiving FI, provides the transaction data record, and receives the transaction identification code and a newly issued recipient payment card account number from the receiving FI. The service provider computer then initiates a payment transaction in a payment card system to route the remittance amount from the sender&#39;s payment card account to the recipient&#39;s newly issued payment card account.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This continuation application claims priority to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/940,671 filed on Nov. 5, 2010, the entire contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to remittance systems. Inparticular, some embodiments relate to methods, apparatus, systems,means and computer program products for implementing a remittance systemon the basis of a payment card system.

Many individuals regularly send money to family or friends eitherdomestically or across international borders. The total annual volume ofinternational person-to-person remittances is measured in the hundredsof billions of U.S. dollars (including transactions that involve U.S.dollars and transactions that do not involve U.S. dollars) and isincreasing from year to year.

Conventional remittance channels may be expensive and/or potentiallyunreliable. To overcome these disadvantages, it has been proposed tobase a remittance system on a payment card system, such as the very wellknown, worldwide system operated by MasterCard International Inc., whichis the assignee hereof. In particular, MasterCard has introduced aservice known as “MoneySend” by which remittances are routed from theremittance sender's payment card account to the remittance recipient'spayment card account via the MasterCard payment system. U.S. publishedpatent application No. 2008/0249929, also assigned to MasterCard,describes a remittance system based on a payment card system. The '929published application is incorporated herein by reference.

The present inventors have now recognized that a remittance system basedon a payment card system may be enhanced to provide improved servicesfor individuals who lack payment card accounts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features and advantages of some embodiments of the present invention,and the manner in which the same are accomplished, will become morereadily apparent upon consideration of the following detaileddescription of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, which illustrate preferred and exemplary embodiments and whichare not necessarily drawn to scale, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates a remittance system providedaccording to some aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system that may beoperated by a service provider as part of the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system that may beoperated by a receiving financial institution (FI) as part of the systemof FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates a process that may be performedin the system of FIG. 1 in accordance with aspects of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates other aspects of operations ofthe system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, and for the purpose of introducing concepts of embodimentsof the present invention, the sender in a proposed remittancetransaction may designate as a recipient an individual who does not havea payment card account. The sender may designate the sender's paymentcard account as the source of funds for the remittance transaction. Aremittance service provider may initiate an authorization request in thepayment card account system to place a hold on the sender's payment cardaccount in an amount sufficient to cover the remittance transaction. Theservice provider may then issue a unique transaction identification codeto identify the proposed remittance transaction and may establish a datafile or record for the proposed transaction. The sender may receive thetransaction identification code from the service provider and maycommunicate it to the recipient. The recipient may visit a branch officeof a financial institution (the receiving FI) that participates in theremittance system. The recipient provides the transaction identificationcode to the receiving FI, which uses the transaction identification codeto access the relevant data record in the service provider's computersystem. The receiving FI then issues a new payment card account to therecipient and communicates the payment card account number for the newaccount to the service provider. The service provider initiates apayment transaction in the payment card system to route the funds to betransferred from the sender's payment card account to the recipient's(newly issued) payment card account. Subsequent remittances from thesender to the recipient may be routed directly in the payment cardsystem to the recipient's payment card account.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates a remittance system 100provided according to some aspects of the present invention.

At the heart of the remittance system 100 is a payment system 102. Aswill be seen, the payment system 102 operates to route and clear fundstransfers from the payment card accounts of senders to the payment cardaccounts of recipients. One example of a suitable payment system is theBanknet system, which is well-known to those who are skilled in the art,and which is operated by the assignee hereof.

A major strength of a payment system such as the Banknet system is thatit interlinks numerous financial institutions around the world. Inpractice the remittance system 100 may include many financialinstitutions that act as issuers of payment card accounts, but forpurposes of illustration only two such FIs are shown in FIG. 1, namelythe financial institution (sending FI 104) that issued the payment cardaccount of the sender of a remittance, and the financial institution(receiving FI 106) that serves the designated recipient for theremittance. As indicated respectively at 108 and 110, the sending FI 104and the receiving FI 106 are both connected by suitable datacommunication paths to the payment system 102. In some cases, thereceiving FI 106 may be located in a different country from FI 104 sothat any remittance transmitted between the two FIs 104, 106 is aninternational remittance.

Also shown as part of the remittance system 100 is a service provider112 that provides functionality in accordance with aspects of thepresent invention. The service provider 112 may, for example, be aremittance services provider (RSP), and may be a point of contactbetween the remittance sender 114 and the remittance system 100. As willbe understood in light of subsequent discussion, the service providermay initiate transactions in the payment system 102 (as indicated at116), and may exchange information (as indicated at 118) with thereceiving FI 106, to implement services that are provided in accordancewith aspects of the present invention. The service provider 112 mayobtain its access to the payment system 102 under contract with thepayment system 102 or alternatively may be directly affiliated withand/or operated by the payment system 102.

Each block shown in FIG. 1, with the possible exception of block 114,should be understood to represent the indicated entity and also one ormore computers operated by the indicated entity. Thus, in addition toshowing relationships among various parties that make up the remittancesystem 100, FIG. 1 also depicts a network of computers that exchangeinformation for the purpose of implementing remittance transactions inthe system 100.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram representation of a computer system 202 thatmay be operated by the service provider 112, and that may effectivelyconstitute the block 112 shown in FIG. 1. Some or all of the activitiesascribed below to the service provider 112 may in fact be implemented byoperation of the computer system 202.

The computer system 202 may be conventional in its hardware aspects butmay be controlled by software to cause it to operate in accordance withaspects of the present invention.

The computer system 202 may include a computer processor 200 operativelycoupled to a communication device 201, a storage device 204, an inputdevice 206 and an output device 208.

The computer processor 200 may be constituted by one or moreconventional processors. Processor 200 operates to executeprocessor-executable steps, contained in program instructions describedbelow, so as to control the computer system 202 to provide desiredfunctionality.

Communication device 201 may be used to facilitate communication with,for example, other devices (such as computers operated by the paymentsystem 102 or the receiving FI 106).

Input device 206 may comprise one or more of any type of peripheraldevice typically used to input data into a computer. For example, theinput device 206 may include a keyboard and a mouse. Output device 208may comprise, for example, a display and/or a printer. (Input and/oroutput with the computer system may also or alternatively be via otherchannels, such as mobile telephone applications, SMS, web pages, etc.)

Storage device 204 may comprise any appropriate information storagedevice, including combinations of magnetic storage devices (e.g.,magnetic tape and hard disk drives), optical storage devices such as CDsand/or DVDs, and/or semiconductor memory devices such as Random AccessMemory (RAM) devices and Read Only Memory (ROM) devices, as well asso-called flash memory.

Storage device 204 stores one or more programs for controlling processor200. The programs comprise program instructions that containprocessor-executable process steps of computer system 202, including, insome cases, process steps that constitute processes provided inaccordance with principles of the present invention, as described inmore detail below.

The programs may include an application 210 that allows the computersystem 202 to handle remittance transactions as described herein.Another or related application program 212 allows the computer system202 to update user profiles, as will also be described herein.

Storage device 204 may also store one or more databases 214 that containdata related to transactions initiated by the service provider 112,and/or data related to remittance services customers of the serviceprovider 112.

The storage device 204 may also store other programs (not shown) thatcontrol operation of the computer system 202, such as one or moreconventional operating systems, device drivers, communications software,web hosting software, software for performing server functions, etc.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram representation of a computer system 302 thatmay be operated by the receiving FI 106 (FIG. 1). Thus the computersystem 302 may constitute the block 106 shown in FIG. 1. Some or all ofthe activities ascribed below to the receiving FI 106 may be implementedvia operation of the computer system 302.

In its hardware aspects, the computer system 302 may be conventional,and similar to the hardware components described above in connectionwith the computer system 202. The hardware aspects of the computersystem 302 will therefore not be further described, except to mentionthat the computer system 302 may include a processor 300 incommunication with a communication device 301, a storage device 304, aninput device 306, and an output device 308.

The storage device 304 may store an application program 310 to controlthe computer system 302 to handle remittance transactions in accordancewith aspects of the present invention and as described herein. Thestorage device may also store an application program 312 that managesissuance of payment card accounts in connection with remittancetransactions, as described herein.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 3, the storage device 304 may also store oneor more databases 314 that contain data related to remittancetransactions handled by the computer system 302 and data related topayment card accounts issued by the receiving FI 106. The storage device304 may also store other software programs for controlling the computersystem 302, such as one or more conventional operating systems, devicedrivers, communications software, etc.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates a process that may be performedin the remittance system 100 in accordance with aspects of the presentinvention.

At 402 in FIG. 4, the sender who wishes to make the remittancetransaction gets in contact with the service provider 112. For example,the sender may visit a store-front location operated by the serviceprovider 112. Alternatively, the sender's contact with the serviceprovider 112 may be via electronic communication. For example, thesender may operate a personal computer (not shown) or a smart mobiletelephone (not shown) to establish a session with the computer system202 operated by the service provider 112. In such cases, it is to beunderstood that the sender may previously have enrolled as a user withthe service provider 112 and thus may have an online user account thatis stored and serviced by the computer system 202. Thus, if the senderelectronically contacts the service provider 112, the sender may do soby accessing his/her user account with the computer system 202.

At 404, the sender provides information to the service provider tospecify details of the remittance transaction that the sender wishes toundertake. For example, the sender may specify the amount of money to betransferred and the sender's payment card account that is to be used forfunding the remittance transaction. In at least some cases, the latterinformation (sender's payment card account number) may previously havebeen stored in the computer system 202 as part of the sender's userprofile. It will be appreciated that the sender's payment card accountnumber may identify a payment card account (e.g., a credit card account,debit card account or prepaid payment card account) that was previouslyissued to the sender by the sending FI 104. The transaction informationprovided by the sender also may identify the recipient, at least byname. For present purposes, it will be assumed that the recipient doesnot have a payment card account, and indeed does not have any kind ofaccount with a financial institution.

At 406, the service provider 112 may initiate a transactionauthorization request in the payment system 102. The transactionauthorization request may be routed via the payment system 102 to thesending FI 104 using the payment card account number that identifies thesender's payment card account issued by the sending FI 104. The purposeof the transaction authorization request is to confirm the availabilityof funds or credit in the sender's account to support the proposedremittance transaction. Another purpose of the authorization request isto put a hold on the funds or credit in the sender's account, in theamount of the requested remittance, until the remittance transaction iscompleted.

At 408, the service provider 112 receives a response to the transactionauthorization request. The response may be initiated via the sending FI104 and routed via the payment system 102 back to the service provider112. For present purposes it is assumed that the authorization responseindicates approval of the transaction authorization request. If such isnot the case, then the proposed remittance transaction may not goforward.

At 410, the computer system 202 operated by the service provider 112 mayset up a transaction file/data record that represents the proposedremittance transaction. For example, this may include establishing andassigning a unique transaction identification code for the remittancetransaction. In addition to the identification code, the transactiondata record may store the remittance amount, the date of the request,the sender's name and funding payment card account number and therecipient's name. In some embodiments, the transaction data record mayalso indicate the country and/or region/city/town to which theremittance is being sent.

At 412, the service provider 112 discloses the transactionidentification code to the sender, with the expectation that the senderwill provide the code to the recipient, who will in turn use the code toclaim the remittance. At the same time, the service provider 112 mayinform the sender of the identities of financial institutions in therecipient's area that participate in the remittance system 100. That is,the service provider 112 may advise the sender as to the names of FIsthat are able to serve as the receiving FI for the particulartransaction.

In some embodiments, a retailer or other nonbank entity may perform atleast some of the functions ascribed herein to the receiving FI.Accordingly, the term “receiving FI” should be understood to include anyparty that facilitates delivery of the remittance at the receiving end.In some embodiments, the service provider may manage card issuance tothe recipient on behalf of an FI, and the recipient may visit anaffiliated retail location to obtain the remittance in cash form whilethe recipient's card is being issued and mailed to the recipient.

At 414, the sender communicates the transaction identification code tothe recipient. This may occur, for example, via a telephoneconversation, an electronic mail message or a text message. In the samemessage, the sender may inform the recipient about participating FIsavailable to serve as the receiving FI for the transaction. At the sametime, the sender may inform the recipient as to the amount of theproposed remittance.

At 416, the recipient visits the branch location of one of theparticipating FIs. (Alternatively, the location to be visited by therecipient may be a retail location belonging to a service provider thathas a relationship with one or more participating FIs.)

At 418, the recipient provides to the participating FI (now to bereferred to as the receiving FI 106) the transaction identification codethat the recipient received from the sender. At the same time, therecipient may provide one or more personal identifying documents forhimself/herself to the receiving FI 106. For example, the identifyingdocuments may include a driver's license or other form of governmentissued identification document. With these documents, the receiving FI106 may take steps to satisfy its “know your customer” (KYC) obligationsas provided under governmental regulations.

At 420, the computer system 302 operated by the receiving FI 106 may usethe transaction identification code to access the transaction datarecord that was generated for the transaction by the computer system 202operated by the service provider 112. For example, this may occur by thecomputer system 302 accessing a web page hosted by the computer system202 for the purpose of facilitating remittance transactions andsubmitting the transaction identification code to the computer system202. With access by the computer system 302 to the data record for thetransaction, the receiving FI 106 may recognize that the validity of thetransaction is confirmed (block 422, FIG. 4) and that funding isavailable and has been set aside for the remittance transaction. As partof confirming the validity of the transaction, the receiving FI 106 mayconfirm that the identity of the recipient as stated in the transactiondata record at the computer system 202 matches the identifyingdocument(s) provided by the recipient at the receiving FI branchlocation.

At 424, after confirmation of the validity of the transaction, thereceiving FI 106 may issue a payment card account to the recipient. Thisaccount may, for example, be a debit card account linked to a demanddeposit account (DDA) that is also opened at the same time for therecipient at the receiving FI 106, or alternatively the newly issuedpayment card account may be a prepaid payment card account. As part ofthe issuance of the recipient's payment card account, the receiving FI106 assigns a payment card account number that identifies the accountfor purposes of routing transactions to the recipient's account via thepayment system 102.

At 426, the receiving FI 106 communicates, to the computer system 202operated by the service provider 112, the payment card account numberfor the recipient's newly issued payment card account number. Thecommunication from the receiving FI 106 (from the computer system 302)to the computer system 202 may again identify the relevant remittancetransaction via the transaction identification code so that the computersystem 202 recognizes that the payment card account number identifies atarget recipient account for the remittance transaction.

At 428, and in response to receiving the recipient's payment cardaccount number from the receiving FI 106, the service provider 112 mayinitiate a payment transaction in the payment system 102 to route atransfer of funds from the sender's payment card account to therecipient's newly issued payment card account. The routing of thepayment transaction in the payment system 102 may use the payment cardaccount number communicated from the receiving FI 106 to the serviceprovider 112. It will be appreciated that the payment transactionconsummates the remittance for which authorization was requested by theservice provider 112 at step 406. As is explained in theabove-referenced '929 published patent application, and as is known tothose who are skilled in the art, a “payment transaction” in a paymentcard system is one in which funds are to be transferred via the paymentcard system from a funding FI to a target payment card account; this isin contradistinction to a conventional “purchase transaction” in apayment card system, in which funds flow in the opposite direction,i.e., out of the payment card account in question.

At this point, the receiving FI 106 may, in some embodiments, disbursesome or all of the remittance to the recipient in cash, as indicated at430. The receiving FI 106 may be willing to do this because (a) iteffectively already has an assurance via the service provider 112 that atransfer of funds to the recipient's payment card account will beconsummated shortly; and (b) the receiving FI 106 may believe that ithas obtained adequate proof of the recipient's identity. Thedisbursement of cash at this point may also make the remittance systemattractive and convenient for the recipient, as part of the recipient'sintroduction to the system. In addition or alternatively, the receivingFI 106 may issue a payment card to the recipient by which the recipientwill be able to access the newly issued payment card account. However,in some embodiments, issuance of the payment card itself to therecipient may require a day or a few days for processing by the paymentcard supplier for the receiving FI 106. For example, the payment cardmay be personalized by the payment card supplier and then mailed by thepayment card supplier to the recipient's mailing address.

At 432 in FIG. 4, the payment transaction is routed, cleared andsettled. This may take place in accordance with conventional paymentcard system practices for payment transactions. For example, the fundsmay be transferred from the sender's account to a settlement account atthe sending FI 104, and then from the sending FI settlement account tothe receiving FI 106 for posting to the recipient's newly issuedaccount. Then, at 434, the funds transfer is credited to the recipient'saccount (e.g., to cover the cash disbursement that may have previouslybeen made by the receiving FI 106 to the recipient).

At 436, the service provider 112 may use the recipient's payment cardaccount number, as provided by the receiving FI 106, to update thesender's user profile to add the recipient and his/her payment cardaccount number as a potential recipient for future remittancetransactions. With this information added to the sender's user profile,the sender may be enabled to easily select the recipient for additionalremittance transactions in the future, which may be readily routed fromthe sender's payment card account to the recipient's payment cardaccount, in accordance with known techniques. The foregoing assumes thatthe sender has a user profile with the service provider 112.Alternatively, however, the service provider may communicate therecipient information (e.g., recipient's name and payment card accountnumber) to another party (such as the sending FI 104) to allow the otherparty to update the sender's user profile with the other party.

The process as depicted in FIG. 4 assumes that the recipient claims theremittance within a fairly short time, say within a few days or a week.In some embodiments, the hold placed on the sender's payment cardaccount for the remittance amount may only last for a limited number ofdays, and may be released at the end of that time, at which point theremittance transaction would be deemed “stale”, and would no longer beclaimable by the recipient or supported by the service provider 112.However, there may also be a process available wherein the sender isable to renew the hold on his/her payment card account to extend theavailable life of the remittance transaction.

One beneficial feature of the system may be that the funding is notcharged to the sender's account until the remittance transaction isready to be completed.

With the process as described herein in conjunction with FIG. 4, apayment-card-system-based remittance system is operative to consummate aremittance transaction directed to a recipient who is not the holder ofa payment card account at the time that the sender first launches theremittance transaction. With this process, the recipient selects thereceiving FI from among participating locations, claims the remittanceusing a dedicated transaction identification code, and is issued a newpayment card account by the receiving FI in aid of the currenttransaction. In this way the remittance system can conveniently serve apreviously “unbanked” recipient, while transforming the recipient into abank customer and holder of a payment card account. This also adds tothe opportunities for the receiving FI to serve as the receiving end ofremittance transactions for individuals who are not yet customers of thereceiving FI.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates other aspects of operations ofthe remittance system 100. Block 502 in FIG. 5 represents the initialremittance transaction to benefit the previously unbanked recipient asdepicted in FIG. 4. Block 504 represents subsequent remittancetransactions to the same recipient, which may use as a target paymentcard account the account that was issued to the recipient in connectionwith the transaction of block 502. It will be appreciated that one ormore of the block 504 remittance transactions may take place a week ormore later than the initial remittance transaction of block 502. Thesemay be like conventional remittance transactions in apayment-card-account-to-payment-card-account remittance system.

In embodiments described above, the remittance transaction may be fundedfrom a payment card account that belongs to the sender. Alternatively,however, the funding may be from another source, such as cash deliveredby the sender to the sending FI, or from a demand deposit account (DDA)or other account owned by the sender at the sending FI, or from anaccount at another institution. In the latter case, it may be advisablefor the sender to have a relationship with the sending FI so that “knowyour customer” (KYC) requirements may be met.

Processes portrayed herein as being performed by one computer may inpractice be divided among two or more computers. Processes portrayedherein as being performed by two or more computers may in practice beperformed by a single computer. For example, in the case of thereceiving FI, one computer (e.g., a client computer) may be operated byan employee of the receiving FI to enter information about the recipientand the remittance transaction, in cooperation with a separate servercomputer (not shown; also operated by the receiving FI) which handlescommunication with the service provider, issuance of the new paymentcard account, maintenance of customer and account databases, etc.

As used herein and in the appended claims, the term “computer” refers toa single computer or to two or more computers in communication with eachother and/or operated by a single organization or by two or moreorganizations that are partly or entirely under common ownership and/orcontrol.

As used herein and in the appended claims, the term “processor” refersto one processor or two or more processors that are in communicationwith each other.

As used herein and in the appended claims, the term “memory” refers toone, two or more memory and/or data storage devices.

The flow charts and descriptions thereof herein should not be understoodto prescribe a fixed order of performing the method steps describedtherein. Rather the method steps may be performed in any order that ispracticable.

As used herein and in the appended claims, the term “payment cardaccount” includes a credit card account or a deposit account that theaccount holder may access using a debit card, or a prepaid payment cardaccount. The term “payment card account number” includes a number thatidentifies a payment card account or a number carried by a payment card,or a number that is used to route a transaction in a payment system thathandles debit card and/or credit card transactions. The term “paymentcard” includes a credit card or a debit card or a prepaid payment card.

Although the present invention has been described in connection withspecific exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that variouschanges, substitutions, and alterations apparent to those skilled in theart can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at a serviceprovider computer, a request for a transfer of a remittance amount froma sender having a payment card account issued by a sender's financialinstitution (FI) to a recipient without a payment card account;transmitting, by the service provider computer via a payment card systemto the sender's FI, a transaction authorization request and a hold onthe sender's payment card account in an amount to cover the remittanceamount; receiving, by the service provider computer via the payment cardsystem, an approval of the transaction authorization request by thesender's FI; establishing, by the service provider computer, atransaction data record identified by a unique transactionidentification code and comprising the remittance amount, the date ofthe request, the sender's name, the sender's payment card account numberand the recipient's name; transmitting, by the service provider computerto the sender, the transaction identification code; receiving, by theservice provider computer from a receiving financial institution (FI),the transaction identification code and a transaction data recordvalidity request; providing, by the service provider computer to thereceiving FI, the transaction data record; receiving, by the serviceprovider computer from the receiving FI, the transaction identificationcode and a recipient payment card account number of a payment cardaccount newly issued to the recipient; and initiating, by the serviceprovider computer in a payment card system, a payment transaction toroute the remittance amount from the sender's payment card account tothe recipient's newly issued payment card account.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein transmitting the transaction identification codefurther comprises transmitting an identity of at least one receiving FIin the recipient's area to the sender.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: transferring the remittance amount from the sender's paymentcard account to a settlement account at the sender's FI; andtransferring the remittance amount from the settlement account to therecipient's newly issued payment card account.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising updating, by the service provider computer, a userprofile associated with the sender with recipient account informationcomprising at least the recipient's name and the recipient payment cardaccount number.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprisingtransmitting, by the service provider computer to the sender's FI,recipient account information comprising at least the recipient's nameand the recipient payment card account number for updating of a userprofile associated with the sender.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinthe hold is valid for a predetermined time period, and wherein theremittance transaction is canceled when the recipient fails to claim theremittance amount before the predetermined time period expires.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising, when the remittance transactionis canceled due to expiration of the predetermined time period,extending, by the service provider computer, the predetermined timeperiod in response to a request by the sender.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the remittance amount is charged to the sender's payment cardaccount only upon consummation of the transfer.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein the sender's FI is in a first country and the recipient's FIis in a second country different from the first country.
 10. Anapparatus, comprising: a processor; a communication device operablyconnected to the processor; and a non-transitory storage device operablyconnected to the processor, the storage device storing instructionsconfigured to cause the processor to: receive a request for a transferof a remittance amount from a sender having a payment card accountissued by a sender's financial institution (FI) to a recipient without apayment card account; transmit, via a payment card system to thesender's FI, a transaction authorization request and a hold on thesender's payment card account in an amount to cover the remittanceamount; receive an approval of the transaction authorization request bythe sender's FI; establish a transaction data record identified by aunique transaction identification code and comprising the remittanceamount, the date of the request, the sender's name, the sender's paymentcard account number and the recipient's name; transmit the transactionidentification code to the sender; receive the transactionidentification code and a transaction data record validity request froma receiving financial institution (FI); provide the transaction datarecord to the receiving FI; receive the transaction identification codeand a recipient payment card account number of a payment card accountnewly issued to the recipient from the receiving FI; and initiate apayment transaction in a payment card system to route the remittanceamount from the sender's payment card account to the recipient's newlyissued payment card account.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein theinstructions stored in the storage device for transmitting thetransaction identification code further comprises instructionsconfigured to cause the processor to transmit an identity of at leastone receiving FI in the recipient's area to the sender.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 10, wherein the instructions stored in the storagedevice further comprise instructions configured to cause the processorto: transfer the remittance amount from the sender's payment cardaccount to a settlement account at the sender's FI; and transfer theremittance amount from the settlement account to the recipient's newlyissued payment card account.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein theinstructions stored in the storage device further comprise instructionsconfigured to cause the processor to update a user profile associatedwith the sender with recipient account information comprising at leastthe recipient's name and the recipient payment card account number. 14.The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the instructions stored in thestorage device further comprise instructions configured to cause theprocessor to transmit recipient account information to the sender's FI,the account information comprising at least the recipient's name and therecipient payment card account number for updating of a user profileassociated with the sender.
 15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein theinstructions for transmitting a hold on the sender's payment cardaccount in an amount to cover the remittance amount further comprisesinstructions configured to cause the processor to enforce apredetermined time period for the hold causing cancellation of theremittance transaction when the recipient fails to claim the remittanceamount before the predetermined time period expires.
 16. The apparatusof claim 15, further comprising instructions stored in the storagedevice configured to cause the processor to: notify the sender that theremittance transaction was cancelled due to expiration of thepredetermined time period; and extend the predetermined time period inresponse to a request by the sender.
 17. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the instructions stored in the storage device further compriseinstructions configured to cause the processor to charge the remittanceamount to the sender's payment card account only upon consummation ofthe transfer.